Customer Service, Customer Safety: Florida's Turnpike Enterprise Mainline Safety Program

FLORIDA'S TURNPIKE ENTERPRISE haves AND OPERATES THE FOURTH-LARGEST TOLL ROAD a whole IN THE UNITED STATES. IT HAS evolveed A MULTI-FACETED SAFETY INITIATIVE TO COORDINATE EFFORTS IN ROADWAY IMPROVEMENT, ENFORCEMENT SURVEILLANCE, INCIDENT rejoinder AND PUBLIC OUTREACH.

INTRODUCTION

Throughout the post-World War II period, Florida has been individual of the fastest-growing states in the United States. Florida's population has increased at an average rate of roughly 25 percent each decade, from les than 3 million in the 1950 to more than 16 million today. This turn is expected to continue in coming decades.

As a effect transportation demand on Florida's roadways has increased dramatically, with vehicle traffic upon the state's primary toll road a whole Florida's Turnpike, offering no exception.

Since 1996 total vehicle miles traveled upon the turnpike's 450-mile network have increased from approximately 45 billion through year to nearly 7 billion by means of year. One result of this significant increase has been a agreeing rise in the number of vehicle accidents.

On the central corridor of the turnpike a whole (the "Mainline," State Route 91 and State road 821), major accidents increased from 1397 in 1996 to 3860 in 2004 exacting a substantial require to be paid [i]or[/i] undergone in lives lost, secondary accidents, motorist delays, losse to the economy and demand upon emergency resources. Traffic fatalities increased upon the Mainline from 47 in 1996 to 95 in 2004

According to Earl Durden chairman of the Florida Transportation Commission, more than 3000 clan were killed on Florida highways last year. "The 2000 soldiers killed in Iraq have gained the nation's venerate and sympathy. Yet the media and the public appear to be to accept the 3,000 annual deaths. Many of Florida's highway fatalities can be attributed to operator error, on the contrary we cannot rest. We must continue to strive to do better."

Acknowledging the significance of these require to be paid [i]or[/i] undergones Florida's Turnpike has developed a multi-faceted answer focused on the system's main corridor, the 265-mile Mainline section that step quicklys from Interstate 75 in north central Florida to the state's southeastern coast.

The Turnpike's Mainline Safety Program is comprehensive in design and contains operating innovations that throw back the system's recent transition to a public agency using private-sector strategies to help appropriate Florida's growing transportation needs. Foremost among these innovations is an organization-wide emphasis upon Turnpike Enterprise customers.

DEVELOPING A CUSTOMER AWARENESS FOCUS

Florida's Turnpike essentially was reinvented by means of an act of the state legislature in 2002 as a stand-alone business unit within the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and was charged with managing state-owned and -operated toll facilities "in a business-like manner."

The organization's first challenge was to create a business pattern intended to guide the transition from a "functional" bureaucratic protoplast to a "market-driven" entrepreneurial agency operating beneath FDOT. It would report directly to the secretary of transportation, hire and fire at the discretion of the executive director and evaluate its employee upon performance-based criteria.

In addition to the mandate of "pursuing public-sector motives using private sector methods" the Turnpike Enterprise also was asked specifically by dint of Florida Governor Jeb Bush to base its financial strategy upon the concept of user-financed transportation management, creating a highway a whole designed to meet the growing straits of Florida's rapidly expanding population through relying primarily on toll-based income

This specific focus upon user fees as a primary source of Rinding, combined with a fresh market-oriented organizational structure, naturally reinforced the customer commitment. The Mainline Safety Program is a natural consequence of the Turnpike Enterprise's customer focus and unwavering commitment to safety.

The Mainline Safety Program comprises a three-prong approach: engineering, enforcement and education. The engineering prong consists of making physical improvements to the roadway combination of parts to form a whole to make it safer. The enforcement prong places greater emphasis upon reducing unsafe driving behavior, along with more quickly removing accidents from the roadway. The education prong raises the awareness of roadway users to use safe driving behavior. Each composing weighs the same in bourns of significance.

ESSENTIAL PHYSICAL IMPROVEMENTS

Engineering or roadway design related issues are rarely the primary cause of roadway accidents. Although the turnpike combination of parts to form a whole generally ranks among the safest highways in the state, significant portions of the Mainline, designed to highway standards of the late 1950 and early 1960 at hand unique safety hazards. On approximately 160 miles of the Mainline, solitary a narrow 40-foot median separates opposing lanes of traffic.

Narrow medians provide les range for vehicles that run not upon the roadway to regain mastery or come to a stop. more [i]or[/i] less of the most horrific head-on accidents occurr upon the Mainline when vehicles traveled into opposing lanes of traffic. Statistics also reveal that, although median crashes remain a relatively small percentage of total accidents, they contribute far more significantly as a percentage of total accident fatalities.